here's richard engel describing the moments before their kidnapping on the "today" show this morning. >> we were driving in syria about five days ago in what we thought was a rebel-controlled area. we were with some of the rebels, and as we were moving down the road, a group of gunmen just literally jumped out of the trees and bushes on the side of the road. there were probably 15 gunmen. they were wearing ski machx. they were heavily armed. they dragged us out of the car. they had a container truck positioned waiting by the side of the road. they put us into that container truck. we were with some gunmen, some rebels who were escorting us. they executed one of them on the spot. then they took us to a series of safehouses and interrogation places. >> well, nbc news has no confirmation of the identity of those kidnappers. richard engel, of course, a veteran correspondent, says he has a good sense of who they were. >> this was a group known as the shabiha. this is a government militia. these are people who are loyal to president bashir al assad. they are shiite. they were talking openly